


Hide This, Banner

by GrangeLady



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Humour, i think, possibly crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-03 09:12:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1068701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrangeLady/pseuds/GrangeLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Bruce becomes Head of Surprise Gifts and Stolen Items in the Tower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hide This, Banner

**Author's Note:**

> Every time Ao3 has a problem or an update or somesuch, the notification can be hidden by either clicking the X, or clicking a box that says 'Hide this banner'. It always makes me giggle to imagine that it's Thor talking to Bruce in his great booming voice, and that thought's been dancing around in my head for too long now. Enjoy!

There was an agitated rustling from under Bruce's desk. Sighing, he crossed to the lab's refrigerator and pulled out a packet of ham slices. When he was sitting back at his desk he slipped a few slices of ham into the cardboard box that had been a fixture in front of his feet for a few days now. There was the suggestion of a contented grumble and a noise that may have been something out of sight settling down into its nest. 

It wasn't the only box that Bruce was taking care of. There was one in the locked cupboard that was supposed to be for safety equipment only, and a rather puzzling one in the vent that Bruce had never actually seen. How he was supposed to defend it from prying eyes he had no idea; Clint had seemed satisfied knowing that Bruce knew it was there. He didn't like to speculate as to its contents, but in the days after it had been installed Bruce had received more lab visits from Steve than ever before. The apparent loss of Steve's new favourite (and loudest) choral rock albums was probably not connected.

After Tony had asked to borrow some of Bruce's lab space, the safety equipment cupboard had mysteriously gained a new lock. Jarvis refused to answer any questions about it, but in his doublespeak way had told Bruce that Pepper wasn't allowed to ask questions either. Bruce didn't know what was going on, but it was probably better to maintain a degree of plausible deniability so he let it rest. 

The box at his feet was the newest, and the one that weighed most on his mind. Not only because it clearly contained something living (which enjoyed ham and didn't seem to need liquids) which he had never seen except for dark movements through the air-and-ham holes, but because of the way it had been given to him. Thor had turned up last week, pressing the box into Bruce's hands with a hunted look in his eyes, and walked away. 

"Hide this, Banner," wasn't Thor's usual method of asking for a favour. No vows on his honour, no excessively long stories from his bizarre childhood, no cack-handed flattery that compared the listener with a beautiful goat... And then he had vanished. Thor hadn't reported in since then, and Dr Foster had said she hadn't seen him either. Of course, he had every right to return to Asgard without telling them - he wasn't a child, and he wasn't a prisoner - but it would be the first time he hadn't wanted to say a formal goodbye. 

Bruce didn't mind doing a favour for Thor, but the box was starting to make him uneasy. The other guy hadn't even stirred at his vague anxieties, so the thing mustn't smell like a threat, but... Maybe he should mention it to Tony. Or peek inside. That wasn't a bad idea. The box wasn't nailed shut or anything; it was just a sturdy cardboard box with plenty of holes that anything with claws could have forced its way out of by now. 

He could practically hear Tony's battle cry ("For science!") as he pulled out the box and placed it on the table. The thing inside shuffled around. Bruce put his eye to the largest hole in the top of the box and saw only what he had seen before: a dark silhouette with a suggestion of gleaming eyes, and the accompanying feeling that maybe he shouldn't be doing this. He stood back and examined the inside of his head. It seemed the other guy agreed. 

Bruce put the box back on the floor and nudged it under the table with his foot. He probably didn't want to know anyway.


End file.
